_SalD_

After funneling the epoxy resin into the bottle, it's usually time to relax for a couple of days waiting for it to dry.  Before I got to relax though, I needed to clean up the usual horrible mess I'd made with the epoxy resin.  It was then that I suddenly remembered that I needed to show water flowing thru the neck of the bottle and into the body for my illusion of the waterfall filling up the bottle with water.  I had about an ounce of leftover epoxy resin still in the pouring container which would be plenty.
 
But how to do it was the question.  I could not just pour it in because that would require tilting the bottle and would cause the main body of epoxy resin to slide up the back side of the bottle and leave residue when leveled off again.  So I decided to wait for the leftover epoxy resin to solidify, but not harden..........Cue 3 1/2 hours of Jeopardy music..........Once the epoxy resin got to what I thought was the proper thickness, I took a bamboo skewer and pasted a thin layer of epoxy resin on the bottle's neck. 
 
That was the easy part.  The hard part was getting epoxy resin affixed to the dropoff from the neck of the bottle to the main body of water and making it look like a smooth flow.  So I swirled a large blob onto the skewer and prepared to try and get it in place without making a huge mess - see below.
     
By this time, the epoxy resin was getting pretty solid and difficult to work with.  I ended up scraping the blob against the top of the dropoff,  where to my horror, it just stood straight out like a diving board (no picture unfortunately).  My hope was that even though the epoxy resin was stiff enough to stick straight out, it wasn't stiff enough to overcome gravity.  Sure enough, after about 15 minutes, I could see it starting to droop.  After an hour, it had fallen perfectly into place!  WHEW!!
 
    
Fast forward to today and the epoxy resin was set.  I added some slight texturing of the water with Woodland Scenics Water Ripples.  I did not want to go overboard with the stuff thinking that there should not be much turbulence with a small flow of water filling the bottle.  No whitecaps either.  

 
Closeup below of the water coming in from the bottle's neck and hitting the textured water.  After the boat is in the bottle, I'll probably add a little froth to where the little waterfall hits the main body of water, but I'm thinking it will be pretty subtle.
 
 
     

I got a Bridge City mini block plane with depth skids (HP-8).  It looks scrupled; the best part is that the sides can be adjusted to set the height of the plane.  The plane is about 4” (100 mm) long, with a working width of 1.25” (33 mm).
 

Recently, I was running out of 1 mm thick material for steps.  I had 1.5 mm material so I set the mini plane to 1 mm height (using some 1 mm material) and planed the 1.5 mm material –  it works fine.  And it looks cool.
 

 

This is to pass on my special thanks to all fellow builders with their kind recommendations for  scaled wire ropes for rigging purposes.
 
I have own good experience with using steel rope like the (meantime not any more common) remote wire control for model power planes.
This steel "Diamantlitze" is either  total 0,5 mm OD, 19 strand x 0,1 wire .....or total OD 0,25 mm 7, strand  x 0,1 mm. Both are galvanic tin coated.
 
I applied this very suitable material (50 Meters on the spool) for soldering for the stays and shrouds of my tallship-models Pamir and Gorch Fock, as those would be spanned and confrontrated with considerable pull-forces caused by the working bottleneck screws
 
Nils

 

'Noticed that camera flash makes the belaying pins look shinier than they are just looking at them ...  the growing patina seems a mild brown, like other brass I've had laying around for a long time.  Now the jewelry wire used for the grab bars (and also will be used for railings) is 'protected' by some kind of coating ... so will remain relatively bright for a long time.  The grab bars were painted white with some Testor's model enamel, and it adhered well to whatever coating was on the wire.  The plan is to paint the lower third of the stanchions white before fitting, then after the railings is worked out and installed, the remaining brass will be painted white everywhere - as seen on the original ship.
 
  I figure that some 'kit supplied' belaying pins look 'stubby', is that if they had the appearance (proportion) of actual pins they'd be prone to breakage.  So turned brass seems the best in looks and resistance to breakage - thus they are worth the cost of ordering as an upgrade.
 
  'Still thinking about rigging and belay locations, and have a rough drawing.  So I'll make a 'cleaner' version using my LED light table recently acquired.
 
    4 boomkins were just made using a bamboo skewer as follows:  a.) measure to select drill size, then drill about 1/2" deep into the hull where needed.  ('Could have used a piece of tape in lieu of a drill stop - This means the boomkin shaft that won't be seen will be marked as to where it must go on the hull e.g. SF = Starboard Fore.)  b.)  insert skewer, and mark 5/8" out from hull.  ( There will be 4 eyes inserted at 1/8" intervals, plus an eye on the end ... that should be enough, as I'm not sure exactly how many will be needed.  )   c.) place in mini lathe, taper the end and cut off at the mark.  d.) fit, mark and hand drill holes for eyes with a finger drill chuck.  d.) insert eyes, trim, bend and  CA in place.  This (and also the belaying pin assy.) is an application for the 'thin' CA, and a little bit applied with a dental tool will 'wick' where it has to go.
 
  The boomkin shown did split a little on the end (mishandling - but the others are intact), so I got the idea to mount the reinforcing chain (to be pinned to the hull at a later time) with a ring over the end of the boomkin ... actually, any blocks or lines to be fastened to the boomkins will go on once I paint the boomkin white - but the boomkins themselves will go in later so they they don't get snapped in the interim - perhaps they don't even need gluing in as the rigging will retain them just as the rigging will retain the masts without gluing.  So it is a good thing each will be marked where it needs to go later.
 

Glen, your preservation with glycerin is/was a technique used by model railroaders to preserve the weeds and lichen used as the flora on old model railroad scenery. those plants should last.
 
Been lurking here; you really have an intriguing subject. 👍 Of note for any sci/fi fans, the opening credits of Star Trek: Enterprise has one shot of a Polynesian vessel. They were some remarkable navigators, crossing the Pacific like they did.

Time to dive into the sails or pe'a's as they wee called.  Each pe'a is shaped like an upside down triangle with the upper section curved downward like the letter U.  According to https://www.hemakeewaa.org, "the U in the sail serves as kind of a safety valve allowing wind to escape over the top of the sail thus reducing the force that could capsize a canoe."
 
As far a construction of the pe'a, it was made from the leaves of the hala tree.  The leaves (lauhala) were cut into very narrow strips, maybe 1/4" wide, then woven together to form mats about a foot and a half square.  Finally, the mats were sewn together to create the full pe'a.  
 
So far, I've been trying to make as much of my wa'a kaulua as possible with native Hawaiian materials.  There are no hala trees around here in central Texas, but I do have a pineapple plant and a plumeria tree which I am going to try and make the pe's's from.  I took a couple of dead leaves from each because I need a brownish/yellowish color.  Obviously, they were pretty crunchy, so I need a way to make them pliable again.  Hmmmm.  Several years ago, I killed a few small rattlesnakes and a couple of copper heads at my ranch.  I preserved the skins by soaking them in a glycerin/water solution and to this day they are still soft. 

 
Would that same method work for leaves?  There are people in the googleverse that say it will, so I'm giving it a try.  The first pic shows the leaves from my pineapple plant and the second is from the plumeria.  The plumeria is a little darker than I want, but I like the prominent veins that could maybe pass as sewing seams.  We'll see how everything looks in a couple of days when they are done soaking.
     

 
While the leaves are relaxing in their glycerin bath, I decided to get the water in the bottle.  I went with more of a turquoise color instead of the deep sea dark blue I usually use.  I also wanted it to be a little more transparent to indicate shallower water like you would find at the base of a waterfall. 

  
 
     
 
  

I think we might have a few Larrikins on MSW, but I won't name names!!  😃😃😃

Thank you, Glen. Yes, Louie's been around since the early 60's when he was in black and white on TV (and pretty primitive). He's got a place in Australian folklore and we're actually rather fond of him because of his rebellious attitude - he's what we in Oz call a larrikin ("Larrikin is an Australian English term meaning "a mischievous young person, an uncultivated, rowdy but good hearted person", or "a person who acts with apparent disregard for social or political conventions") which fits very well with the Australian psyche.
 
But it's "rubbish tip" (i.e. garbage dump), not "rubbish tin" - a whole bigger area of rubbish to come from and much more shudder-inducing - which is what the advertisers had in mind . . .
 
Steven

Jib Stay:
For the jib stay I decided to try rigging this line something like what is shown in ‘The Young Sea Officer’s Sheet Anchor’ book on page 61.

My first hurdle was how do I make and then attach the traveler to the jib boom now that the boom is already in place.  My solution was to bend some 28 ga. wire around a round nose pliers to the diameter of the jib leaving extra wire at the ends in order to work it around the boom.  The two long ends of the wire ring were spread part and wrapped around the jib and then reformed into its circular shape.  The excess wire was removed once the traveler was in place.


The next challenge was to drill a hole through the jib boom to simulate the sheeve and to not snap the end of the jib off.  By supporting the underside of the boom and applying gentle pressure on the pin vise the hole was successfully drilled.

Next I chose to use two single blocks for the running rigging for space considerations.  One block was seized to the end of the jib stay; the other was stropped to an eyebolt that was attached to the bowsprit cap.  The running rigging was reeved through these blocks bring the working end aft through the fairlead and tied to a cleat added to the bulwarks. The jib stay was then threaded through the hole in the jib boom, through the traveler and then tied off to the fore topmast.

For a finishing touch I added the inhaul line to the port side of the traveler which also ran back through the fairlead and tied off to a cleat on the bulwarks.

Finished jib stay

 

Chuck, Thanks so much for the kind words.

Jib Stay:
For the jib stay I decided to try rigging this line something like what is shown in ‘The Young Sea Officer’s Sheet Anchor’ book on page 61.

My first hurdle was how do I make and then attach the traveler to the jib boom now that the boom is already in place.  My solution was to bend some 28 ga. wire around a round nose pliers to the diameter of the jib leaving extra wire at the ends in order to work it around the boom.  The two long ends of the wire ring were spread part and wrapped around the jib and then reformed into its circular shape.  The excess wire was removed once the traveler was in place.


The next challenge was to drill a hole through the jib boom to simulate the sheeve and to not snap the end of the jib off.  By supporting the underside of the boom and applying gentle pressure on the pin vise the hole was successfully drilled.

Next I chose to use two single blocks for the running rigging for space considerations.  One block was seized to the end of the jib stay; the other was stropped to an eyebolt that was attached to the bowsprit cap.  The running rigging was reeved through these blocks bring the working end aft through the fairlead and tied to a cleat added to the bulwarks. The jib stay was then threaded through the hole in the jib boom, through the traveler and then tied off to the fore topmast.

For a finishing touch I added the inhaul line to the port side of the traveler which also ran back through the fairlead and tied off to a cleat on the bulwarks.

Finished jib stay

 

Chuck, Thanks so much for the kind words.

Nice!  Really excellent solution and execution, Sal!  

Jib Stay:
For the jib stay I decided to try rigging this line something like what is shown in ‘The Young Sea Officer’s Sheet Anchor’ book on page 61.

My first hurdle was how do I make and then attach the traveler to the jib boom now that the boom is already in place.  My solution was to bend some 28 ga. wire around a round nose pliers to the diameter of the jib leaving extra wire at the ends in order to work it around the boom.  The two long ends of the wire ring were spread part and wrapped around the jib and then reformed into its circular shape.  The excess wire was removed once the traveler was in place.


The next challenge was to drill a hole through the jib boom to simulate the sheeve and to not snap the end of the jib off.  By supporting the underside of the boom and applying gentle pressure on the pin vise the hole was successfully drilled.

Next I chose to use two single blocks for the running rigging for space considerations.  One block was seized to the end of the jib stay; the other was stropped to an eyebolt that was attached to the bowsprit cap.  The running rigging was reeved through these blocks bring the working end aft through the fairlead and tied to a cleat added to the bulwarks. The jib stay was then threaded through the hole in the jib boom, through the traveler and then tied off to the fore topmast.

For a finishing touch I added the inhaul line to the port side of the traveler which also ran back through the fairlead and tied off to a cleat on the bulwarks.

Finished jib stay

 

Jib Stay:
For the jib stay I decided to try rigging this line something like what is shown in ‘The Young Sea Officer’s Sheet Anchor’ book on page 61.

My first hurdle was how do I make and then attach the traveler to the jib boom now that the boom is already in place.  My solution was to bend some 28 ga. wire around a round nose pliers to the diameter of the jib leaving extra wire at the ends in order to work it around the boom.  The two long ends of the wire ring were spread part and wrapped around the jib and then reformed into its circular shape.  The excess wire was removed once the traveler was in place.


The next challenge was to drill a hole through the jib boom to simulate the sheeve and to not snap the end of the jib off.  By supporting the underside of the boom and applying gentle pressure on the pin vise the hole was successfully drilled.

Next I chose to use two single blocks for the running rigging for space considerations.  One block was seized to the end of the jib stay; the other was stropped to an eyebolt that was attached to the bowsprit cap.  The running rigging was reeved through these blocks bring the working end aft through the fairlead and tied to a cleat added to the bulwarks. The jib stay was then threaded through the hole in the jib boom, through the traveler and then tied off to the fore topmast.

For a finishing touch I added the inhaul line to the port side of the traveler which also ran back through the fairlead and tied off to a cleat on the bulwarks.

Finished jib stay

 

Jib Stay:
For the jib stay I decided to try rigging this line something like what is shown in ‘The Young Sea Officer’s Sheet Anchor’ book on page 61.

My first hurdle was how do I make and then attach the traveler to the jib boom now that the boom is already in place.  My solution was to bend some 28 ga. wire around a round nose pliers to the diameter of the jib leaving extra wire at the ends in order to work it around the boom.  The two long ends of the wire ring were spread part and wrapped around the jib and then reformed into its circular shape.  The excess wire was removed once the traveler was in place.


The next challenge was to drill a hole through the jib boom to simulate the sheeve and to not snap the end of the jib off.  By supporting the underside of the boom and applying gentle pressure on the pin vise the hole was successfully drilled.

Next I chose to use two single blocks for the running rigging for space considerations.  One block was seized to the end of the jib stay; the other was stropped to an eyebolt that was attached to the bowsprit cap.  The running rigging was reeved through these blocks bring the working end aft through the fairlead and tied to a cleat added to the bulwarks. The jib stay was then threaded through the hole in the jib boom, through the traveler and then tied off to the fore topmast.

For a finishing touch I added the inhaul line to the port side of the traveler which also ran back through the fairlead and tied off to a cleat on the bulwarks.

Finished jib stay

 

Thank you, Steven!  I'm actually not too nervous about the insertion process this time as I know my hull assembly will fit easily and I think my deck/mast/sail assembly will not be too tight either.  My concern right now is whether or not this idea I've got for the sails will work (speaking of weeds...).  More on that in my next post.  
 
On another note, curiosity finally got the best of me.  I'd been wondering for a while about your screen name and if there was a story behind it.  My initial thought was that it sounded like some kind of gangster from the roaring 20's.  So I googled and found that it's a mascot for a bug spray (Mortein)!!  And I even listened to his jingle:
 
Louie the Fly, I'm Louie the Fly, Straight from rubbish tin to you!
Spreading disease with the greatest of ease, straight from rubbish tin to you!

I'm bad and mean and mighty unclean, afraid of no one,
except the man with the can of Mortein. Hate that word, Mortein!
 
He even has his own Facebook page with 242,000 followers!!!  And apparently I was on the right track with my initial thought because I read that the producers of the jingle wanted his voice to sound gravelly, like a Chicago-land gangster.
 
So now I think you have the coolest screen name on MSW!!!
 
    

Thank you very much, Javelin, John and Phil,
for your good advice with the making of fake wire. I`ll keep that in mind...., but meantime can also live with the greyish 0,7mm polyester rope, also used for the davits rigging.
 
I`ve just made the infeeds of the coal chutes for the bunkers, and acc. to Andy`s post (#137) and my post (138) they are situated (dryfit) on the boats deck near the funnel. Stb. side is a closed chute cover, and port side the cover is open with view into the chute. They may be shifted a bit, when the tube connections to the watertank are made
 
Nils

cover for the coal chute closed

and open on port side
 
 

Update
 
Made the rigging for the boats and for the cargo derricks. There are also hand-winches for the boats. The fastening points for the stays are set, I`m waiting for some ordered workable bottleneck-screws to arrive. The bridge still needs to be done.
 
Nils

 

all holds have supporting brackets

 

The cargo derricks are rigged

the boats have their own hand-winches (two per boat)

the derrick winches are rigged
 
 

Once upon a time ...

The dafi had its annual public tinkering session with its modelling club at the Stuttgart trade fair. Then we went straight from the trade fair to a customer in Austria for a while. I didn't have a chance to think about anything model-building-related.

I'm back home now, and I can only catch up on what I've been doing over the last two months. But first things first 🙂

Before the trade fair, I had finished the running rigging. I wanted to try it out at the fair to see if it would be manageable, as the stuff - if true to scale - is very, very small.



As with the standing rigging, I have summarised the block sets for the individual locations.

Here are the yards of the main mast ...



... of the foremast ...



... and the mizzen mast.



There are also the collections for headsails, stunsails and other locations.

It was fun again at the trade fair.

Our booth ...



... my workplace ...





... and my colleagues in typical working posture 😉



It was especially funny there when you want to try out the 2 mm blocks - the smallest of the sets - and don't have everything you need with you. Dear Alex then played vice and held my auxiliary jig for rigging - thanks for that!

It worked straight away and with my now tried and tested technique, even these small blocks are wonderfully quick and easy to rig.



What was still missing were the parrells. I also managed to do this in a last-minute operation. Here are the two sizes with ribs for the top and topgallant yards.



Threaded for neatening ...



... and the first tying attempt to find out how many are needed.



Here is the final version on the main top yard ...





... and with a able seaman for the dimensions.



Someone also climbed up especially for the topgallant yard.



And to round things off, the stuff for the gaff also got their own size of parrells. First try ...



... the shape was adjusted a little and the final version is on its way.

The claw is also grained with the centre punch ...



... and drilled out with 0.5 mm ...



... the blocks trimmed and wooded ...



... and into place ...



... and everything fits! Fits 🙂



Best regards, Daniel  

That's very impressive, Glen. She's really taking shape. I wish you the best of fortune in inserting her in the bottle without mishap.
 
(BTW, I used weeds I found growing across the road from my home in one of my own models, as 'padding' or perhaps 'underlay', for the cargo in the hold (as it had been found in the remains of a 15th century cog). Your deckhouse looks very good.
 
Steven

Incredible work, Glen. 

On to the masts, which are called kia's and look quite interesting.  The wa'a kaulua sails were triangular in shape with a straight vertical kia (mast) and a 'o pe'a (curved spar).  I made the kia in my usual way with a small bamboo rod hinged near the base and shaved down to 1.5mm above the hinge. 
 
 
For the 'o pe'a's, I boiled a couple of bamboo rods for 20 minutes, then rubber-banded them to a couple of wood scraps that I had shaped to the proper curve.

 
While the curved 'o pe'a's were drying I went to work on the thatched structure that rests between the pe'a's, or doghouse as @Keith Black called it.  I think it's called a halau wa'a, which translates to canoe house but I am not sure.
 
I was out on a run yesterday and saw some very thin, hairy, dead grass growing out of a crack in the pavement.  It looked perfect for small thatch like I needed.  So I grabbed a handful and carried it home.  I built a little halau wa'a out of a bamboo chopstick, chopped the grass into tiny pieces and glued it on.  As with a lot of my deck fixtures, they look better the further you are away from them.  
 


 
By the time I finished the halau wa'a, the 'o pe'a's (curved spars) were done drying. 

 
 
Here's a pic of everything I've made so far, dry-fitted into place.

 
 
 
 
 

Chuck, Thank you and best of luck with your build.  Will you be doing a build log?  If so I'll be interested in seeing how you modify her armament.
Also, if you have any question don't hesitate to ask.

I’ve been a little delinquent in my postings so this will be a two part post which will be somewhat longer than my usual posts so I apologize in advance. 
 
Once all the lower rigging was completed and the futtock shrouds were installed the topmasts were mounted.

The Topmast shrouds were installed the same way the lower shrouds were except for the way the deadeyes were held in place.  These deadeyes were pinned to a piece of card stock that I had used for the lower shroud ratlines.  The line spacing on the card stock just happened to be at the right distance for the deadeye spacing.  After pinning the deadeyes to the card stock it was clamped to the crosstrees. The shrouds were then seized around the deadeye.

I should also mention here that I chose to use a smaller diameter (2.5mm) deadeye for the upper shrouds than the 3.5 mm diameter deadeye that was provided with the kit.  I just liked the looks of the smaller deadeye for the upper shrouds.  The lanyards were then reeved through the deadeyes and rattled up.

Completed shrouds.

The ratlines for the fore topmast shrouds were tied the same way the lower ratlines were done.


The Fore topmast backstays were added next. The deadeyes were tied to the stays the same way the lower shrouds were done using the twisted wire spacing guide.  Lanyards were then reeved through the deadeyes and tightened.